The Aftermath of the Persian Wars

By 475 BC Sparta had gained nothing but the hostility of every city or group
of cities with which she had tried to interfere. Chief among the anti-Spartan
party in Athens was Themistocles and it was his influence that was instrumental
in stirring up hostility to Sparta inside the Peloponnese. By 470 Elis the
majority of Arcadian cities and Argos, which had almost recovered from the after
effects of the battle of Sepeia in 494 BC, were in alliance against Sparta. In 473
BC at the Battle of Tegea Sparta defeats the Tegeans and the Argives and in 471
the Arcadians are defeated by Archidamus II at Dipaea. These two victories
re-establish Sparta's position of hegemony in the Peloponnese.

Athens establishment of 'Delian League'

The Delian league was set up ostensibly to

protect liberated Greece from Persia,

plunder Persian territory to recoup the financial losses of war,

punish Persia for the desecration of temples

The League
consists of:

Ionian and Aeolian cities of Asia Minor

Islands along coast from
Lesbos to Rhodes

Propontis,

some of Thrace,

most of Chalcidice

Cyclades

Euboea
except Carystos

Athenians, with their naval supremacy, are the de facto leaders and the
treasury is established at Delos (hence the name of the league). The
hellenotamiai (treasurers) cities contributed
money and/or ships. Themistocles had
encouraged Athens to build up its fleet between the Persian Invasions, after the
war, the Athenians began to fortify the Pireaus and entrances to the harbour
were fortified by moles. Later,
it would build long walls connecting the two Pireaus and Athens.

Transition From League To Athenian Empire

The process by which the league turned into an Athenian empire was a gradual
one. For the first decade and a half, the league spent its time continuing to
war against the Persians. They attacked along the SE Aegean shore. But it came
to act on behalf of purely Athenian interests. Further evidence of
expansionistic Athenian policy can be seen in the case of Carystus, the one city
in Euboea which declined membership of the Delian League. After refusing to join
a second time in 472 B.C.,
was forced into the league by the league's fleet. In 469 Naxos was subjugated
and the league decided to take Naxos' fleet and change it's naval contributions
to tribute. A garrison was left behind and Naxos effectively became a subject
state. Erythrai, which rebelled in the 450's B.C. was the subject of a harsh and
authoritative decree. The league was now no longer a voluntary association, but
a means of binding cities permanently to Athens. Cimon the
son of Miltiades of Marathon fame, drove the Persians from most of their
strongholds on the Thracian coast. Next he subdued the pirates of the island of
Scyros and replaced them with Athenian settlers and transported back to Athens
in triumph the supposed remains of Theseus, the ancient king of Athens, who was
said to have been buried there. Cimon gained his greatest victory (c. 466) when,
as leader of an allied fleet of 200 ships, he routed the much larger Phoenician
fleet near the mouth of the River Eurymedon in Pamphylia and subsequently
defeated the King's forces on land, thus gravely weakening Persian control over
the eastern Mediterranean. Cimon now returned to the Aegean and drove the
Persians out of the Thracian Chersonese (Gallipoli). When the rich island of
Thasos seceded from the Delian League, Cimon defeated the Thasians at sea, and
after a blockade of two years, they surrendered to him in 465.

The Evolution of the Athenian Empire

Now three classes began to emerge.

A few large state providing ships and maintaining their autonomy. By 445
only three fell into this category (Lesbos, Chios and Samos).

Internally autonomous states, which provided money in lieu of ships.
Smaller states that found it difficult to maintain even a small naval force of
their preferred the ease of monetary contribution. This status was preferred
by the Athenians, since it meant that they could enlarge their own fleet at
the expense of others.

Cities coerced into the league or restored to it after a revolt. These not
only had to pay tribute, but were no longer autonomous. Terms differed, but
generally the Athenians had to approve of the members of the council, and left
a garrison; contribution to Panathenaic festival in Athens was a token of
submission.

Each year the Athenians drew up a list of contributions. All towns had to
contribute troops when called upon. Finally, the Athenians gradually asserted
the right to hear capital criminal cases in Athens. This generally meant that
the well off could be destroyed in the courts if they were felt to be a threat.
In 454, the treasury was moved to Athens, the Athenians taking 1/60th for their
goddess Athena as a sort of service charge. By now the Athenians had full
control of the League, which could now be conceived of as an Athenian empire.

The Delian League gradually became an Athenian Empire. But once the Athenians
had it, they found it impossible to relinquish.

Earthquake in Sparta

The Spartans had been sufficiently concerned with Athenian expansionism
to sign a secret pact with the Thasians under which they would invade Attica. The
earthquake of 465/464 in which 20,000? Spartans were killed put paid to that and
triggered a Messenian and Laconian? helot revolt in 462. Sparta itself was saved
by the quick thinking of Archidamos. The Messenians no match for a Spartan field
army retreated and established themselves in the natural defences of Mt Ithome in Messenia. In a response to a Spartan appeal to her allies for help Cimon
persuaded the Athenians to send aid to Sparta and brings an Athenian force of
4,000 hoplites. The Spartans probably fearing they sympathised with the Messenian
cause dismissed them much to the humiliation of Cimon who was exiled on his
return. The Spartans eventually take the Messenian stronghold of Ithome.

Athens under the leadership of Pericles
begins the breaking of relations with Sparta by forming new alliances with Argos and Thessaly
in 459 BC. They also take advantage of a border dispute between Megara and
Corinth to detach
Megara from the Peloponnesian League and building fortifications that link the
port of
Nisaia to Megara effectively blocking the route a Peloponnesian army would take
on its way to Attica. Also in 459 the Athenians begin to build the 'long walls'
connecting Athens to the port of Piraeus. The Athenian alliance with Thessaly
improved their military and strategic position. Thessaly was famous for its
cavalry and also Thessaly sat on the northern border of Athens' rival Boeotia.
The alliance with Argos Sparta's Peloponnesian rival would mean Sparta could not
feel secure.

Conflicts between Athens and Sparta

In 457, the first major clash occurred. Nicodemes of
Sparta, regent for the under aged king Pleistoanax, bypassed Megara by taking an army of 11,500 hoplites
across the Corinthian gulf by sea into Boeotia to
help Thebes
put down a rebellion by Phocis.
Athens took advantage of this to block the routes back to the Peloponnese,
and Sparta decided to remain in Boeotia and await the Athenian attack. The
Athenians and their allies, under the command of Myronides, had 14,000 men
including 1,000 Argives, and
met the Spartans at Tanagra. Although
the Spartans won the battle after the Thessalian cavalry changed sides, it was a close run thing over two days and
they were unable to follow
up on their victory; their route home however, was now open. At Oinophyta,
led by Myronides the Athenians having regrouped defeated the Boeotians, and then
destroyed the walls of Tanagra and ravaged Locria and Phocis.
Their victory at Oenophyta allowed Athens to defeat Aegina
later in the year, and to finish the construction of the Long Walls to the
Athenian port of Piraeus. In 456 Tolmides the Athenian in a demonstration of
Athenian naval power took a fleet of 50 ships and burnt the Spartan naval
dockyard at Gytheion. He also took the Corinthian city of Chalkis on the Gulf
and the small city of Naupactus where they settled the Messenians who had been
allowed to leave after the revolt. The treacherous Thessalian were also
punished. But the destruction of the Athenian expedition to Egypt, the
difficulties controlling their empire and Sparta's reluctance to venture out of
the Peloponnese reduced the support for war and in 451 a five year truce was
agreed along with a thirty year peace between Sparta and Argos.

In 449 the end of hostilities between Greece
and Persia was concluded at the Peace of Callias. A Pan-Hellenic congress
is proposed but never meets. The Athenians under Tolmides, with 10,000
hoplites plus other troops from their allies, marched into Boeotia to take back
the recaptured towns. They captured Chaeronea, but were attacked and defeated by
the Boeotians at Coronea. The Athenians were forced to give up control of
Boeotia, and the defeat led to revolts on Euboea
and in Megara where the Athenian garrison was killed. In order to get back the
many captured Athenians, Athens to secure their safe return abandoned all of
Boeotia except Plataea and Thebes resumed its place at the head of a Boeotian
league. Pleistoanax' the young Spartan king led an expedition into the Megarid,
he turns back at Eleusis
, there are accusations of that Pericles had bribed him and his advisor
Cleandridas was condemned to death and escaped into exile. Pleistonax was
acquitted but also went into exile. The withdrawal of the Spartan army allowed
Pericles to suppress the revolt in Euboea.

Thirty year peace

In 446 a thirty year peace treaty was agreed. Athens agreed to withdraw from
Nisaia and Pagae, give up alliances with Phocis, Troezen, Achaea, and to grant
self-government to Aegina. An important clause was that both sides would submit
to independent arbitration over any disputes over the observance of the terms.
When the island of Samos revolted in 440 BC against Athens, Sparta tried to get
the Peloponnesian League to declare for war but they could not persuade the
majority of members to vote with them. Here we see one of the fundamental
differences between the so-called Athenian democracy's Delian League and the
'oligarchic' Spartan league, in the Peloponnesian League each member however
small or great had just one vote whereas as has been shown any disagreement by a
Delian member against Athens' will resulted in military action against them.

Causes of war

Thucydides
an Athenian general,
exiled during the course of Peloponnesian war began his history when war broke out; lived through war, but his account
remained unfinished, the reasons for the war, according to Thucydides were that
the underlying cause had to do with Spartan fear of the
growth of Athenian power. The immediate pretexts were the dispute between Corcyra and Corinth, Epidamnus,
and the defensive alliance between Corcyra and Athens. The
naval Battle of Sybota took place in
433 BC between Corcyra and Corinth. Both the Corinthians and Corcyraeans claimed
victory, the Corinthians having won the first battle, and the Corcyraeans having
avoided a Corinthian occupation of their island. In 432 the Corinthians
and Athenians clashed again. Potidaea was a colony of Corinth on the Chalcidice
peninsula, but was a member of the Delian League and paid tribute to Athens.
After Sybota, Athens demanded that Potidaea pull down part of its walls, expel
the Corinthian ambassadors, and send hostages to Athens. Athens was afraid that
Potidaea would revolt due to Corinthian or Macedonian influence, as Perdiccas II
of Macedon was encouraging revolts among Athens' other allies in Thrace. The
Athenians succeeded in defeating a Corinthian force and cut off Potidaea from
the sea with a naval blockade. In early 432 B.C. the Athenian assembly
passed the Megarian Decree, which excluded Megarian merchants from the markets
of the Athenian Empire. The Assembly of the Peloponnesian League held at Sparta
in 432 put the Spartans under considerable pressure to restrain the Athenians.
On the one hand Archidamus argued that Athens was fitter to conduct a long war
and negotiations had not been exhausted. On the other hand the ephor
Sthenilaidas demands decisive action. Corinth persuaded the majority of the
League that Athens had broken the terms of the peace but even now Sparta was
reluctant and embassies were sent to Athens to negotiate a settlement. Pericles
convinced the Athenian assembly to reject the offer and the inevitable came to
pass.